Did I tell you that yesterday Donkey (Nazo) was going to spray the back field and while we were filling jerry cans with water for him it started to sprinkle. I told him that he could not spray if it was going to rain because it would wash the herbicide off and it would be a waste. He insisted that it was not going to rain so I told him that if he sprayed and it rained I was going to take the cost of the herbicide out of his pay packet. He did a double take and said that he would wait for the weather to clear before he sprayed. Fortunately for him it did not rain but this morning he launched off into this big spiel about how he could predict the weather. He showed me the teak trees which are in full bloom. He said that it will not rain again until after the teak trees finish blooming and make their fruit. Please! I just let him talk; he went on to say that we would have at least 2 weeks with no rain. Well, guess what? It rained this afternoon. The masons were near the end of raising the sidewalk when it started raining. We rushed around and got all the tarps and plastic that we could find to cover the sidewalk. I could not help but announce to all the men in the yard that Donkey said that it would not rain because he was watching the trees and he knew it would not rain. Donkey started back peddling! He said he was only talking about yesterday.
Speaking of raising the sidewalk; it is now high enough that you could fall off of it and hurt yourself! I spent almost the entire day outside with the masons because they could not figure out the pattern for the paver blocks even though they were laid out in a row for them. Red came by to tell Dawda how to rework the gutter so that it would be easier for a wheelchair to get into the Child Center. Red stayed and helped for the rest of the day. We were happy to have the help because Dawda always says “No” the first time I approach him with a new way of doing things. He wanted the sidewalk to be straight so he dropped a string on one side; I suggested that he drop a string on both sides but he refused. He said he would not be able to see straight from both strings. I then got Steve to cut us a piece of wood to use as our guide so the sidewalk would be the same thickness all the way down. We also argued about the 3 inches of cement on each side of the sidewalk that is going to lock the pavers in place. He wanted to come back tomorrow and do that part of the job. I showed him how to use the 1X12 boards to make a form to put the pavers in that included the 3 inch sidewall; one step does it all. He thought that was pretty good and he said, “Sister Kandie is now a mason!”
Steve went to town this morning and bought boards to fix a couple of the benches from Kulkpeni that had fallen apart. He decided to have some boards ripped so he could add some reinforcement to the benches. He said that he thinks that he will start reinforcing the benches before he gives them to the churches.
Please keep us and the work in your prayers.
In HIS Service,
Steve and Kandie
